Norell/Rodhe has unveiled their entry for Skellefteå Kulturhus, a cultural center comprised of several interlocking building volumes, located in Skellefteå in northern Sweden.

Titled Supergroup, Norell/Rodhe’s entry gathers several cultural institutions - a theatre, two art galleries, a library, a conference center and a hotel - as a set of individual buildings grouped on top of a low podium. In this way, each institution retains some of its independent identity, while simultaneously allowing for productive adjacencies with neighboring institutions. On the exterior, each building mass acquires its own character based on color, proportions, and planar rotation. The interior is characterized by a short span glulam timber structure with densely arrayed columns that emphasize the direction of each building. Shared and communal spaces are created in the podium as well as in intersections between building volumes. In this way, the interior becomes a dense urban condition with junctions, piazzas and landmarks – a city without streets consisting solely of tightly packed architecture. The project’s coloration reflects traditional use of luminous, colored plaster on facades in Skellefteå, and its glulam timber structure explores the opportunities offered by local expertise and industrial processing of timber.

Architect: Norell/Rodhe
Location: Skellefteå, Sweden
Team: Daniel Norell, Einar Rodhe, Aron Fidjeland
Structural engineering: Raphael Le Gall och John Möller, Sweco
Photographs: Courtesy of Norell/Rodhe